Karate after 50 or 60: what a first year asks, and what you can decline

01The short answer

02What a first year contains, subject by subject

In the WKO Shinkyokushinkai first-year textbook, an examination covers kihon, ido geiko, kata, conditioning (knuckle push-ups, jumping squats), flexibility and kumite. The first grading, in that textbook, covers the stances (heiko dachi, zenkutsu dachi, kumite dachi, seiza), hikite, punching combinations, the first kicks, the first blocks, ido geiko, the kata Taikyoku sono ichi and Sokugi Taikyoku sono ichi, and the Dojo Kun — Kyokushin karate belts gives the full order. None of it is timed, and no grade has a deadline: you present it when you can do it.

03What to discuss before the first class

Three subjects, precisely. Conditioning — knuckle push-ups, jumping squats — because it is part of the examination and nobody here will tell you what it becomes after 60: nothing is published on that, and it is for the instructor, and your doctor, to answer for you. Flexibility, for the same reason. And kumite, which is practised with the instructor’s permission and not otherwise — What is Kyokushin kumite? says how it is introduced and graded, and why it comes last. Tell the instructor about old injuries before the class, not after; Starting Kyokushin after 40 deals with recovery, and still holds twenty years later.

04What you can decline, and what you cannot

Kumite can be declined — it is a permission, not an obligation. A conditioning exercise can be discussed, and the instructor gives a version of it. What cannot be declined, because it is the class itself: the line, the bow, the repeated kihon, ido geiko, kata. An adult of 60 does them in the same line as everyone else, at their own pace, and that is what to go and see with your own eyes at the trial class, not guess here. Progress is measured neither by the clock nor by a ranking: you move forward against yourself.

05What the dojo does not promise

No seniors’ group, no adapted schedule, no lift: suite 010 is on the lower level; access is by stairs. Nothing more on accessibility, because nothing more is documented. No falls prevented, no memory, no joints: no health claim, and the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, which measures an activity’s effort in MET, stops at 59 — this page borrows no figure from it. To choose between several activities after 60, with the questions to ask each one, Choosing a sport after 60.

06Come and see, then decide

The dojo is at 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010, on Nuns’ Island (Verdun). Five days a week, at fixed hours, in adult groups: the schedule gives the slots, the pricing page the adult monthly rate. Our classes run in both languages, which is why this site exists in four. For the first class, comfortable clothes and a bottle of water — what to bring to your first class has the list — and if the stairs, the group or kumite are a question, call first: the dojo answers before you come down.